This unit consists of four activities. Students begin by examining temperature cycles (current, recent and historical) then add in factors such as carbon dioxide, precipitation and cloud cover to discover regional and global differences in the...(View More) effects of climate change. The unit is one of four under the Chicago Botanic Garden curriculum entitled, "Climate Change in My Backyard."(View Less)

After researching cloud formations online or in the library, students create and share a PowerPoint presentation that describes and illustrates 12 kinds of clouds. A rubric for evaluating the PowerPoint is provided. The Students' Cloud Observations...(View More) On-Line (S'COOL) project engages students in making and reporting ground truth observations of clouds then comparing those observations with data from the CERES satellite instrument.(View Less)

In this lesson bridging art and science, students build understanding of the terms translucent, opaque, and transparent, as they apply to cloud descriptions, and create a collage using materials matching these characteristics, as well as a...(View More) powerpoint of cloud images having a range of optical properties. There are two activities in this lesson. The resource includes a scoring rubric, teaching notes, and a vocabulary list linked to a glossary. This activity is related to the NASA CERES Students Cloud Observations Online (S'COOL) project.(View Less)

This is a lesson about how and why ice flows, especially in a large mass such as a glacier. Learners will experience the qualities of viscoelastic materials and view videos of glacial ice flows. They will observe ice flows and materials other than...(View More) ice flowing differently under stress, and will investigate landscape changes as a result of large scale glacial movement. Activities include small group miming, speaking, drawing, and/or writing. This is lesson 5 of 12 in the unit, Exploring Ice in the Solar System.(View Less)

This is a lesson about detecting ice on the permanently shadowed craters of Mercury and the Moon. Learners will consider what might be in that ice and will examine why the polar regions of Earth, Mercury and the Moon are colder than elsewhere on the...(View More) planets. Activities include small group miming, speaking, drawing, and/or writing. This is the lesson 12 of 12 in the unit, Exploring Ice in the Solar System.(View Less)

In this activity, student teams learn about research design and design a controlled experiment exploring the relationship between a hypothetical planet, an energy source, and distance. They analyze the data and derive an equation to describe the...(View More) observations. Includes student data sheets, a teacher's guide, and a tutorial on how to use the spreadsheet program Excel. This is Activity A in module 3, titled "Using Mathematic Models to Investigate Planetary Habitability," of the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate? The course aims to help students to develop an understanding of our environment as a system of human and natural processes that result in changes that occur over various space and time scales.(View Less)

El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects weather, climate, and, consequently, humans and their activities. In this investigation, students review and analyze ENSO background info, data and satellite images in preparation for a game. Acting as...(View More) policy makers for Peru, students determine the details of an ENSO event based on information from climate specialists, and then allocate money to manage disaster preparedness and minimize impacts on agriculture and fishing. The URL opens to the investigation directory, with links to teacher and student materials, lesson extensions, resources, teaching tips, and assessment strategies. This is Investigation 1 of three found in the Grades 9-12 Module 3 of Mission Geography. The Mission Geography curriculum integrates data and images from NASA missions with the National Geography Standards. Each of the three investigations in Module 3, while related, can be done independently.(View Less)